Behavior has consequences! This applies both to individuals and to societies. Learn how most of the crises presented by politicians and the media can be traced to the cumulative effects of our own behavior in 5 key areas: Economic Understanding, Discipline, Responsibility, Critical Thinking, and Perspective. Ignoring behavior leads to failure; using this new model leads to real answers.
New examples every MONDAY and FRIDAY!

Popular Posts

Friday, November 4, 2016

Listen to (Don't Ask) Your Doctor

One of the key behavioral dimensions is discipline: doing what needs to be done in the proper timeframe.The opposite of discipline may be
procrastination, but discipline also includes actions like delaying
gratification and impulse control.The
important thing to understand about discipline is that it is not particularly
challenging mentally.It’s usually easy
to understand what needs to be done.All
the steps are laid out and reasonable.The
difficult part comes in the doing.

I call discipline the diet dimension.What needs to be done to lose weight and keep
it off is easy to understand and common knowledge, eat less and exercise
more.Actually doing it is the
challenge.People make fortunes selling
books and diet programs, some with tricks and secrets, foods to eat and foods
to avoid.Many just provide help with
eating and/or exercising.When the
program is over and if it worked, most people gain back what they lost because
they lack the discipline to stick to it.

Dieting is not the only example.Success with personal finances falls into the
same category, as does quitting smoking or correcting any other bad habit.Even little habits we should develop like
brushing and flossing, regular medical checkups and eye exams fall into this
category.These aren’t even hard to do;
they just require some attention and the ability to stick to a schedule.

Discipline is very important because it can have long-term
effects on our health and happiness.Part of what makes it difficult is that the consequences are often far
in the future.The cancer from smoking,
the anxiety-filled retirement from lack of savings and all the diseases
associated with obesity are far in the future.The pain and sacrifice of sticking to a program happen today.Key here is that by the time delayed
consequences strike, it may be too late to take corrective action.

Recent advice from the American Heart Association (AHA) gives
another example.“It is estimated that
three out of four Americans do not take their medication as directed.”This seems like a no-brainer.Instructions are usually clearly printed on
the label and reinforced by the doctor or pharmacist.Those who have questions can easily find
resources to help them out.This is a
clear case of problems with discipline.And as in the examples above, the consequences are serious and often
delayed.The AHA goes on to say, “poor
medication adherence takes the lives of 125,000 Americans annually, and costs
the health care system nearly $300 billion a year in additional doctor visits,
emergency department visits and hospitalizations.”Remember, costs to the system, costs to
society, are costs to you and me.

This advice is not new, but it is now based on clear
evidence.A new, very thorough study
looked at outcomes of more than 3,200 heart patients who underwent either
bypass surgery or insertion of a stent to keep vital blood vessels open.That’s a very large sample.Follow-up exams 12 and 18 months out
showed much better results for the patients who took their medications as
prescribed.They “were more than twice
as likely to have complication-free survival than those who did not take their
medications as prescribed.”Once again,
discipline pays off.

This is why wise parents try to instill a sense of discipline
in their children:eat healthy food
before getting dessert, do your homework or set aside the time before enjoying more
fun activities, buckle your seatbelt, don’t text while driving and prizes and
rewards are earned, not bestowed. A
famous experiment many years ago showed that children with a sense of
discipline even at a young age tended later in life to be more successful in academics and careers.

Unfortunately the surest way to instill this sense of
discipline in children is to lead by example; and from diets to drugs (legal and illegal), so many
Americans struggle with this behavioral dimension.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

is highly qualified to comment on the connection between our behavioral choices and the results we get. His formal education and training in observing and classifying behavior is supported by more than 40 years of practical business experience and 10 years of personal research. He is a West Point graduate with two Master’s degrees in business.
He is also a published author, Master Gardener and RYT200 yoga teacher.